


Heat//Dark Apprentice

by MissMandalore



Series: Freyja "Ace" Cunningham [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hate, Loss, Love, Makeout Session, Mourning, Training, Use of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 08:45:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8660407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissMandalore/pseuds/MissMandalore
Summary: She didn't love him but she craved him anyway. His power, the power he could give to her. And most of all she craved revenge...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This took me ages to write but I love it anyway.  
> Thank you so much for reading <3

Heat // Dark Apprentice 

 

It felt like all the air was pressed out of Ace's lungs.  
She coughed hard and tried to stand up again but a sharp pain in her back forced her to remain flat on the cold floor.  
"Up to your feet" a deep voice commanded growling.  
Ace gritted her teeth.  
Her anger grew stronger with every second. And Maul knew...  
She had thought she knew what she was up to when she had agreed to become his apprentice. His partner. But she hadn't expected this sort of... Pain...  
Not the physical pain of course. Force, she was used to that.  
Loosing an arm and a leg had left her devastated, but loosing the love of her life to the Chancellor, now Emperor, had been more than she could bear. No physical pain could ever make her cringe again, like the girl she used to be.  
Training with Maul was hard and often left her exhausted, even though she was a well trained fighter. During the final year of the Clone Wars, Ace had served as an agent for the Republic. Alongside the Clones, her brothers, as well as the Jedi she had fought for the right cause.  
At least that was what she had believed to do...  
Now, that the Republic wasn't anymore, that it was replaced by an oppressive system, even more corrupt than before, Ace had started to doubt her old beliefs.  
She was an outlaw now.  
A wanted murderer.  
And an infamous bounty hunter.  
Quite a career for a girl from a remote planet, who hadn't even known about space flight until her own, although short, abduction into slavery.  
One day, she told herself, one day she would get her revenge...  
One day she would get her revenge on everyone.  
That was what tied Ace to Maul. Their equal craving of justice. Even though she knew none of her old friends would have approved of her decision.  
But her old friends were dead now...  
Again, Ace was filled by anger.  
Hate spread through the whole of her.  
Her friends were dead. The man she had loved more than her own life had died in her arms, shot by his own brother.  
And for what?  
Order 66 had destroyed everything...  
It had lead Ace on this path. She knew it was wrong, the darkness wasn't an option but for her there was no going back. She had made her decision the moment she had pulled the trigger to kill Commander Fox. The moment she made him pay for her suffering.  
She had chosen this path. And she would follow it to the very end if that was what she needed to do to become powerful enough to make the Chancellor pay too...  
"Up to your feet" Maul growled again.  
This time, Ace followed his demand, even though slow.  
The clacking of Maul's metal feet echoed through the cargo room that he and Ace used for training purposes. It had always amazed her how agile he was, considering the rough prosthetics that differed so much from her own ones. Hers were kaminoan, resembling her original limbs perfectly. Except of course that they were made from durasteel rather than flesh and blood. And there were the scars...  
But Maul...  
Ace had never actually asked him about his prosthetics.  
She knew that he had lost the lower half of his body to Obi-Wan, who had also taken his first pair of artificial legs. So, as far as she knew Maul's history, he must have got them during his time with the Death Watch.  
It was good work, undeniable.  
Not artistic, but of a beauty of a different kind...  
Ace knew how stupid this was but somehow she felt connected to Maul.  
Both of them had lost so much...  
She caught the lightsaber he threw at her.  
"Again. You know what to do apprentice."  
The red blade came to life, humming, dying the walls crimson.  
Ace felt her anger concentrating. The blade, no, the crystal, it nurtured her hate and her hate nurtured the crystal.  
She hadn't been able to feel it the first time she had held a lightsaber.  
But that was ages ago...  
Now, she was able to feel the Force, the darkness... And it felt so good...  
She loved this feeling of power.  
No one would ever hurt her again...  
Maul's attack was as fast as a blaster bolt but Ace managed to block his stroke.  
She could feel him in the Force...  
A presence filled with anger and hate, like herself. He felt so incredibly familiar to her...  
It wasn't the first time she experienced the sensation of the Force. But it had never been so... clear before.  
Ace didn't have time to think about this any further. Maul's next attack was coming.  
Harder.  
Faster.  
Ace's grip of the lightsaber hilt grew weaker.  
Her connection to the Force broke. Maul was too strong, too close...  
Only a couple of seconds later, her lightsaber was thrown out of her hand. Again.  
Maul growled but this time Ace wasn't willing to loose. Not this time.  
She closed her eyes and reached out to him. Concentrated on the presence she had felt just moments ago.  
Suddenly everything slowed down.  
Maul, the engine, even her own heartbeat were reduced to what felt like time had stopped. She was surrounded by pure energy now. Pulsating of its own, floating through everything...  
Energy she could use.  
Her imaginary fingers gripped what must have been the force presence of Maul's lightsaber and pushed it away.  
Out of his reach.  
Power...  
A wicked smile crept on her lips.  
If this was only the beginning, what would she be able to do after a fair amount of training?  
What could she do now...?  
Mauls presence was harder to grasp but eventually Ace closed her fingers around a specifically tight knot of fear and suffering that she supposed must have been his heart.  
So different from what she had imagined...  
But that didn't matter right now.  
Ace pushed Maul's heart as far away from herself as she could.  
What followed now was entirely unexpected.  
As soon as her fingers lost grip of the energy, it felt to her, like in return energy would be drained out of her own body.  
Her knees weakened.  
The energy all around her blurred, flickered, like a broken flashlight.  
She couldn't keep her balance anymore.  
Ace didn't really feel how she fell to the floor. In fact, she didn't feel anything at all. 

When Ace regained consciousness she lay in her bunk.  
And she was alone.  
Maul must have brought her to her cabin and tucked her in...  
It wasn't something the Zabrak usually did but times had changed. They had been working together for more than a year now and Ace felt like Maul finally began to see more in her than just a tool. But there was more...  
She had felt his heart.  
He was afraid. Like her...  
He suffered. Like her...  
And he was mourning. Like her...  
She had believed to know him, at least a little but now it hit her that she never even had an idea.  
Heat began rushing through her body. Maul...  
Alone, broken... Desperately craving to feel something different than pain... Just like her...  
Ace cried out in agony.  
She scratched her fingers across her face, through her hair. Fives was dead. The man she loved was dead and she would never get to see him again. Feel him. His gentle touch... Never hear his voice again, feel his lips on her own...  
He had been... Everything...  
And Ace realized that it were these memories that slowly killed her.  
But she didn't want to die...  
She wanted revenge. She wanted power.  
A power Maul possessed...  
All of a sudden, Ace felt like she could see clearly for the very first time in her life. She needed Maul.  
And Maul needed her.  
It wasn't about love. She couldn't afford love anymore.  
It was a hunger of a different kind. A lust for power... A lust for him... And she knew that Maul lusted for her too...  
Before she could think about it Ace was on her feet.  
She knew what she wanted. 

Maul was in the control room.  
"Apprentice" he hissed when Ace closed the door behind her.  
"Maul" she growled.  
The Zabrak twitched at the sound of his name.  
"You did good today apprentice" he said without turning around.  
Ace shook her head in amusement.  
"I fell unconscious."  
"You tried to control something you can't control"  
Maul sighed and finally turned around to face her.  
"There is potential in you"  
Ace growled impatiently.  
"Potential..." she hissed.  
"That's what you keep saying..."  
She didn't know why but it made her angry rather than proud. She used to feel proud when Maul complimented her...  
"Apprentice" Maul interrupted her thoughts.  
"Look at me"  
Ace did as she was told and eyed him with such a hunger that it would have terrified her old self. But she wasn't this little girl anymore...  
She was death. And she craved this man...  
Maul grinned as she stepped closer like a hunter at her prey.  
"Oh sweet Ace" he whispered.  
She grabbed his neck, brought his face down to her own and kissed him. Passionate. Hungry...  
He returned the kiss, grabbing her, pulling her into him. His hands seemed to be everywhere...  
Suddenly, Maul spun around and pushed her against the control panel.  
Ace inhaled sharply. She didn't expect this move. But she liked it..  
With a grin she raised her arms to give Maul further access to her body.  
A deep moan escaped her lips as his hands traveled down to her hips.  
Memories awoke somewhere in her mind. Memories of another man touching her. Pleasuring her. Loving her...  
Before she could hold herself back, Ace felt tears running down her cheeks. She missed him so much...  
Anger awoke in her as Maul started to pull up her shirt.  
Her memories were little more than that. And Maul...  
Maul was real. Maul, who was touching her... Maul, whose hands slowly undressed her... He was the key to her revenge...


End file.
